It’s time for a paradigm shift.

A few years ago, it was a trend – now it’s a fact. You would be a fool to ignore it. Mobile is the number one when it comes to media usage. Mobile market share has increased by 222% in the last five years. By 2025, global mobile data usage will quadruple, also thanks to 5G!

The Corona epidemic will sustainably benefit this boom. But honestly: how mobile focussed is your marketing strategy, your campaigns, and your content? Are you still planning old-school „made for desktop“?

One lasting mistake that many marketers will regret for a long time to is cutting back the marketing and content budget during the corona crisis. This has damaged brand loyalty in the long term.  As a result, we already see a shift away from loyalty to well-known brands to independent labels. A majority of 61% of US consumers are willing to switch to independent brands.

Mobile market share has increased by 222% 

98.3% use Facebook mobile

The good news & numbers first: Mobile not only reaches more people but is also more effective. Phone-based CPC costs 24% less than desktop and have a 40% higher engagement rate. The higher engagement is also supported by the fact that 

• 83% of all social media visits are from mobile   
• more than 70% of YouTube viewing happens on mobile devices
• 80% of Twitter users come from a mobile device and 93% of video views come from a mobile device 
• 98.3% of users visit Facebook via a mobile device. Here, the trend is already a reality. 

It’s not about the next hype but the strategic agility

Whether chatbots, voice marketing (Alexa, Siri or Google Home) , Clubhouse, App Clips, AI or local marketing – new technologies are necessary, you have to master them, but it doesn’t matter if TikTok overtakes Snapchat or if AR on Twitch is the latest hype. In the long run, the brand that reaches people on the proper channels with the right messages and understands their wants, needs and demands will prevail. New technologies are just hardware – a new tool to deal with. What counts in mobile marketing is flexibility, agility and creativity. Fixed annual plans, rigid budgeting cycles, decision-making processes, approval dynamics do not fit into this mobile world – agility is the keyword, but this does not mean acting rashly.

Video is King

The average person will spend 100 minutes every day watching online videos in 2021. Next year, videos will account for 79% of total Internet traffic, according to a Cisco study. And another interesting fact, according to HubSpot, 72% of consumers prefer to watch a video about a brand than read an article. And if all that hasn’t convinced you so far, here’s one last fact: 85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands. So, if you want to reach both your loyal, existing customers or reach new customers with your messages, the magic formula is: Mobile Video First!

We learned at the beginning of this article that brand loyalty suffered badly during the Covid 19 pandemic. To get people excited about your brand again, mobile video content is the best tool. We can’t resist the visual outburst. No medium emotionalizes us more. We can still remember videos and dialogs years later. Video is credible, serves as a source of information and can be an inspiration. In short, videos have a magical attraction.

Videos & Values

When we talk about video content, we also talk about brand health. Brands should use video to communicate their values, not their products. Mobile video is the showcase of your brand’s core values and the counter where you sell. Use mobile content as a smart satellite.

3 Steps to success for value-driven videos: 

• Selfless instead of selfish (Videos must please the customer, not them)  
• What’s the value? (Tell a story! Award the people’s time! Give not just take)
• Empathy wins (Create an emotional connection between people and your brand)

But for mobile video to convert and bring in ROI, there are also craft things to consider.

3 Steps to success for value-driven videos: 

• Are you using mobile video for awareness and decision-making? Use the whole range of content, help, fun, hero content, but also storytelling, campaigning or instruction videos.  
• Pay attention to the different formats during conception and production. Where should the video run? Instagram Story or Feed, Facebook or YouTube (1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 9:16) One size fits all does not work.
• Stop Scroll Test. The first 5 seconds must work without sound!
• Call to action – The video should trigger an action – (landing page, subscription, learn more, engagement)
• Refrain from too much generic content. Not just beautiful (footage/stock) videos – No message, no take away effect.
• Refrain from using an iconic voice as a spokesperson. Let real people speak.
• Establish fixed content formats and fixed faces (hosts/role models).
• Use a mix of quality storytelling content and user generated content.
• Don’t script the words! When an employee is on camera, avoid prepared interview questions or scripted statements. They look fake and can turn into a lousy boomerang in the worst case.
• Real people / real customers tell real stories that authentically convey the brand’s core values.

And speaking of mobile video – what is your live video strategy actually like in the enterprise?

Videos alone are powerful, but LIVE videos are watched even 1.8x longer. In an upcoming article, I’ll write exclusively about the Power of Live Video.

Mobile Marketing 2021

In addition to video, there are other mobile marketing trends for 2021, the most important is personalization and localization. By the end of 2023, up to $32 billion will be spent on localized mobile content. The main task in mobile marketing is to create as many touchpoints as possible. Use content partnerships, blogs, QR codes, or audio to make your brand communication mobile broad. The biggest megatrend is called mobile voice audio marketing. In the US alone, 43 million podcast episodes were listened to in January 2021. Leverage audio! Branded content podcasts are very successful such as “The Message” by GE . Barilla succeeded in extremely clever networking of brand and audio with the Pasta Playlist. Here, together with Spotify, several playlists were created that relate to the cooking time of the pasta.

Create Mobile Micro-Moments – Use smart e-commerce solutions like Apple’s new App Clips, create new impulses for example through push notifications. Or use chatbots where preprogrammed scripts and AI go hand in hand, such as the Instagram Concierge used by Marriott’s W Hotels chain.

Oldie but Goldie – SMS marketing works. While posts and stories are disappearing, SMS is firmly on our phones.  SMS subscribers have a strong lifetime value. But again, integrate video or images into the message. SMS is especially suitable for loyal customers. And adoption is much higher than most marketing managers think. 42% said they would like to receive an SMS 4-6 times a month from a brand they like.